Monday, June 29, 2020

what won’t surprise a poet

“It is the gift of all poets to find the commonplace astonishing, and the astonishing quite natural.” — Margery Sharp

The mice of the Prisoners’ Aid Society, who have been sent to rescue a poet from the dungeon of the Black Castle, at last meet the prisoner and he is not surprised to hear them speak. 

I rather like Sharp’s description of the poet’s perspective. Oddly, however, not once does Margery Sharp quote a line of the young man’s poetry. 

Nor do we ever learn what led to his imprisonment. One might assume it had something to do with the poetry, but Sharp never really tells us. 

source:
The Rescuers
by Margery Sharp
1959. A Yearling Book / Dell Publishing, New York

No comments: